„Digital capitalism - revolution or hype?“

2/3 November 2017, FES Berlin
Event organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in cooperation with
with the IGZA and other partners

The IGZA was represented at the conference with two workshops. The first workshop discussed the question „Digitalisation and productivity - where is the big growth spurt?“ The „4.0“ debate repeatedly revolves around the topic of productivity. The technical advances in digitalisation should be reflected significantly in rising productivity. However, this has not yet been the case. „4.0 fake“, was one of the questions posed at the IGZA workshop. Past industrial revolutions have always led to substantially higher productivity - and thus to more growth, more prosperity and new scope for distribution. The discussion centred on whether the great „4.0 leap“ is yet to come. An initial approximation of how deeply artificial intelligence and robots would have to penetrate everyday life in order to visibly realise their productive potential was presented. The degree of automation across industries and fields of work and

beyond the trades is a central approach to the productivity potential of digitalisation. At the same time, the thesis was also discussed as to whether the innovations of the digital age are ultimately simply less „productive“ and not an effective means of combating „secular stagnation“.

The second workshop with IGZA participation dealt with the geopolitics of the internet and posed the question of global power shifts through digital dominance. Based on the theory that there is no longer such a thing as a global network, the workshop discussed the extent to which censorship in autocratic states and the control of the market by monopolists, particularly in the USA, are creating two geopolitical power blocs on the commercial internet - with serious consequences for global security and economic policy.